Earth-working machines, such as excavators, shovels, and wheel loaders, include ground engaging work tools that engage with and/or move a variety of earthen materials. These work tools often have one or more cutting tools or tooth assemblies mounted to an edge of the work tool, for example, to a lip of a bucket. The exposed portions of the work tool edge between adjacent tooth assemblies come into contact with the ground or the earthen materials and are subjected to extreme abrasion and impacts that cause them to wear. To prolong the useful life of the work tools, wear members or shrouds are attached to the work tools between adjacent tooth assemblies to protect the exposed portions of the work tool edge.
Although the wear members protect the edge of the work tool, the wear members are still subject to severe abrasion and may need periodic repair or replacement. Removal and/or replacement of a wear member may require disassembly of the wear members from the edge of the work tool, and assembly of a repaired or a new wear member on the work tool. The machine must be taken out of service to perform such replacement or repair. The time required to disassemble and reassemble a wear member may be dictated by the mechanism used to retain the wear member on the work tool. It is desirable to have a retention system that allows for quick assembly and disassembly at a worksite to allow the machine to be returned to service as quickly as possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,663 of Robinson, issued on Jun. 5, 2001 (“the '663 patent”), discloses a resilient connection system for attaching a wear member to an excavating lip structure. In particular, the '663 patent discloses a wear member that has a front portion with two rearwardly extending legs including an upper leg which is disposed on top of a lip of a bucket and a lower leg, which is disposed below the lip. The '663 patent further discloses that a connection member is welded to the bucket. The connection member includes an upstanding boss that includes a circular opening. Likewise, the upper leg of the wear member of the '663 patent includes a projection. A fastener passing through the circular opening in the boss engages with the projection in the upper leg to attach the wear member to the connection member. The connection member of the '663 patent also includes two spring assemblies disposed on either side of the fastener. Each spring assembly includes a rod attached at one end to the connection member and a spring circumscribed around the rod. The spring is retained at the other end of the rod by a snap ring. The rods in each spring assembly of the '663 patent engage with openings in downwardly projecting bosses of the upper leg of the wear member so that the springs are retained between the bosses and the connection member. As the fastener is tightened, the spring assemblies of the '663 patent are compressed providing a biasing force to urge the wear member onto the lip. The '663 patent also discloses that a protective shroud is installed to protect the components of the retention system.
Although the '663 patent discloses a resilient wear member retention system, the disclosed retention system may not be optimal. For example, assembly of the wear member using the system of the '663 patent requires multiple features of the wear member to engage with corresponding features of the connection member, making the assembly cumbersome. In particular, the system of the '663 patent requires a projection in the wear member leg to engage with a fastener attached to the connection member, while simultaneously requiring two bosses in the leg to engage with spring assemblies in the connection member. Disassembly of the wear member may also be cumbersome because of the need to loosen the fastener and disengage the wear member from the fastener and the two spring assemblies for removal. Further, the retention system of the '663 member requires a fastener, two separate spring assemblies, and a protective shroud. The large number of parts required for assembly may increase the cost of manufacturing and maintaining the retention system of the '663 patent.
The shroud retention system of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems of the prior art.